CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL, MONTREAL

Sermons for Lent 2000 The Jubilee

Lent 1 The Very Rev Michael J. Pitts

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This sermon is based on the texts of the day in the Revised Common Lectionary,
Genesis 9:8-17, 1 Peter 3:18-21, Mark 1:9-15, together with Leviticus chapter 25.

In today's readings from Scripture, I see two parallel movements. The first is Noah's passage from the old world, through the flood, to the new. The second is Jesus pilgrimage from the old humanity, through Baptism and the Wilderness, to the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. As we embark on this holy season of Lent we are caught up in these movements. Our journey is in the ark of the church, through the wilderness of Lent and Passion to the proclamation of the new possibilities for life given in the Resurrection.

A theme, latent or clear, in these three readings, as in all the scripture readings of this Lent, and indeed underlying the whole of Scripture, is that of Covenant. Covenant speaks of God's gracious relationship with humanity.

The Covenant is gracious. It is of Grace, God's loving initiative. God covenants himself with us, not because of what we have achieved, nor because of who we are, nor because of what we believe, but because God chooses to love us.

The Covenant is with humanity. It is not primarily with individuals. It is always first with the collectivity, the Jewish People, the Church, and fundamentally, as we see in the story of Noah, with the whole of the human creation, indeed with the whole universe animate and inanimate.

The Covenant is a relationship. It is a bi-directional process, which requires an active response on our part, for us to play our proper role in the dynamic movement of creation, salvation and life. That active response, as understood in the Bible, is the putting of our whole trust in God. The fruit of that act of faith is the following of God's prescriptions for the universe he has created, prescriptions entrusted to humanity, which are both revealed in Scripture and are to be discerned in the evolving process of creation.

In Hebrew Scripture the human side of the covenant is seen as Torah, the teaching and law entrusted by God to his people. In the coming Sundays of Lent, we shall be exploring in different ways one theme of the Torah, which occurs in Leviticus, a book not much read, I think, by Christians. It is the theme of Jubilee.

A first hearing of the word "Jubilee" might bring to mind long-reigning kings and queens, or people celebrating long years of marriage partnership. But in this period of transition from the second to the third millenium, it is being used by the churches to signify something quite different. The Jubilee declared by the churches, and which we shall be exploring in the coming Sundays, is about peace, about freedom, about social justice, about new political and economic relationships. The roots of this action, proposed by the churches, lie in Leviticus, chapter 25, and for the rest of this address, I want to explore this passage with you. The word "Jubilee" is Hebrew, and means "ram's horn" A trumpet made of a ram's horn is to be blown to mark the beginning of the Jubilee.

The Jubilee is part of a threefold structure of periods of rest set apart to celebrate the holiness of God and to mark the holiness of his people. The first level is weekly Sabbath. From the viewpoint of post-industrial society, it is hard to imagine what a revolutionary proposition this was for a people in transition from a nomadic to a settled agricultural way of life. The Sabbath has a twofold function. It is a day of rest and refreshment, and a day of simplicity for the people. But more importantly, it is a mark of the covenant relationship with God, and a celebration of the holiness and transcendence of God. It has both individual and collective dimensions, for while it is rest for the individual, it requires social organisation to make it possible for the whole people to rest. In our post-industrial world, we have tried to keep the individual dimension, but the complexities of society make it impossible for the whole world to stop at the same time. We have thus lost the collective dimension, and the spiritual dimension is left to the few who mark the day with religious ceremony.

The second level we see in the Leviticus passage is the Sabbatical Year. In each seven year cycle, the seventh year was to be laid aside as a year of rest, not so much for the people, but for the land, and again as a celebration of God's holiness. No agricultural activity was to be undertaken that year. The people were to live off the wild produce of the land. It took many centuries before the importance of crop rotation and leaving land fallow was rediscovered With modern intensive and chemical based agriculture we have again lost that insight, and in dust bowls, floods and land-slides we are seeing the disastrous effects of our raping of the soil. The Sabbatical year legislation reminds us that the covenant of God is with the whole of creation. The parallel legislation in Exodus 23 10-11, also suggests that the Sabbatical Year is a time for the poor to gather food. The concern is not just with the individual and the land, but with social justice.

In the third level of the Leviticus structure, this social justice element comes to the fore. Following seven cycles of seven years, the fiftieth year is to be declared a year of Jubilee. The "yohbel" or ram's horn is to be blown, and the people are to embark on a process of restoring just relationships. In this year all real estate outside walled cities is to return to its original owner. The accompanying legislation about price and value makes it clear that all changes in land control are to be considered as fixed term leases. The passage makes the comment that this symbolizes the assertion that there is no human ownership of land. All creation belongs to God. We are therefore God's leaseholders and stewards. Although this concept is so clearly in our scriptures, the white world has totally failed to grasp the way that it is also fundamental to the philosophy of many Native peoples on this and other continents. The present disputes over the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, as indeed the disputes, which lead to that agreement, are, at base, around this very issue.

As well as the legislation about land, the Jubilee passage in Leviticus also speaks about the freeing of slaves in the fiftieth year. Again, what lies behind the legislation is not only an assertion of the intrinsic value of human life, but also a spiritual assertion that all life belongs to God. The passage also contains legislation about the duty of the family to redeem any land or person sold because of debt. When we speak of redemption in a Christian context, we should remember that its root meaning is the returning to its rightful owner of what has been alienated from God.

I have spoken so far about the main lines of this passage of Leviticus, concentrating especially on those aspects, which form the foundation of the Churches intended action in this jubilee period. If you read the passage, you will see that all this is within a context of a cultural and theological outlook, which is of its time and place. Slavery is accepted as an institution. A distinction is made between the people and foreigners. The passage is not speaking of universal human and social justice. Nor is it clear that this legislation was practicable or ever put into practice. There is one reference in 1 Maccabees 6:48-54, which suggests that the Sabbatical Year legislation was respected, but no other mention is made anywhere in the history of the Jewish people.

Nevertheless, the passage does speak about justice, about freedom, and new beginnings, abut the restoration of right relationships among people and between us and God. It speaks about the social and political control needed to prevent economic power becoming so unhealthily concentrated that it not only denies justice, but takes the place of God. These are some of the themes that we shall continue to explore in these coming weeks of our journey through the wilderness towards the new life of humanity made possible in the resurrection of Jesus.

The Very Rev Michael J. Pitts

March 12, 2000